Heq5pro change balance after star alignment

[Dave2292]

Just a quick question that's crossed my mind a few times. 

Is there a way to change balance after I've star aligned and I'm tracking something, say I'm doing planetary and want to change barlows or go from my dslr to smaller guide camera. 

Wouldn't loosening the clutches and re balancing mess with the alignment? Is there a way to do this as I hear some people align with an eye piece and then add camera after but wouldn't the balance be off then? 

Thanks guys

 

[Cornelius Varley]

12 minutes ago, Dave2292 said:

Wouldn't loosening the clutches and re balancing mess with the alignment?

Absolutely would mess with the star alignment. Once the telescope has been balanced and the mount star aligned the clutches should remain locked.  Theoretically, you could declutch and rebalance the telescope and then manually return the telescope back to its previous position and then retighten the clutches without losing too much accuracy.

[Dave2292]

Just now, Cornelius Varley said:

Absolutely would mess with the star alignment. Once the telescope has been balanced and the mount star aligned the clutches should remain locked.  Theoretically, you could declutch and rebalance the telescope and then manually return the telescope back to its previous position and then retighten the clutches without losing too much accuracy.

I thought that was the case . I suppose manually returning to a planet wouldn't be too hard after. Thanks for the reply 

[Jiggy 67]

10 minutes ago, Dave2292 said:

I thought that was the case . I suppose manually returning to a planet wouldn't be too hard after. Thanks for the reply 

It would only take a couple of minutes to realign after making changes. There’s no need to re do a full set up, you don’t have to enter time, date etc, just access the setup menu and go straight to the two star alignment bit....should take about 5 minutes to do.

 I would return to home first and make sure you are in the correct home position as you might have slipped when loosening the clutch 

Edited September 19, 2020 by Jiggy 67

[Dave2292]

7 minutes ago, Jiggy 67 said:

It would only take a couple of minutes to realign after making changes. There’s no need to re do a full set up, you don’t have to enter time, date etc, just access the setup menu and go straight to the two star alignment bit....should take about 5 minutes to do.

 I would return to home first and make sure you are in the correct home position as you might have slipped when loosening the clutch 

That makes alot of sense. 

Do people actually align with an eyepiece and add camera after? as to me it doesn't sound too practical. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I think for planetary imaging you could ignore the balancing so long as the outfit is roughly in balance.  My experience is with alt-azimuth GoTo mounts which are not balanced in the first place. I star align with an eyepiece and then fit the imaging accessories.  It would be nearly impossible to do a star alignment using the planetary camera - the field of view is far too small.

[Dave2292]

6 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

I think for planetary imaging you could ignore the balancing so long as the outfit is roughly in balance.  My experience is with alt-azimuth GoTo mounts which are not balanced in the first place. I star align with an eyepiece and then fit the imaging accessories.  It would be nearly impossible to do a star alignment using the planetary camera - the field of view is far too small.

Yeh that's what i do usually but just remember seeing somewhere that people use an eyepiece and then put the camera on but I'm not assuming it was hog wash maybe haha 

[Erling G-P]

On 19/09/2020 at 11:17, Dave2292 said:

That makes alot of sense. 

Do people actually align with an eyepiece and add camera after? as to me it doesn't sound too practical. 

I have determined the balance with camera and all necessary accessories, and put marks on dovetail & counterweight bar, so I don't have to do the balancing every time I set up.  Just put scope & counterweigths where they're supposed to be.  Do my star alignment with a crosshair eyepiece, which is lighter than my camera, so balance not quite correct while doing my usual 2-star alignment.  Does not seem to be a problem though, and once aligned, I replace the eyepiece with the camera, and balance is then correct.

[Dave2292]

15 hours ago, Erling G-P said:

I have determined the balance with camera and all necessary accessories, and put marks on dovetail & counterweight bar, so I don't have to do the balancing every time I set up.  Just put scope & counterweigths where they're supposed to be.  Do my star alignment with a crosshair eyepiece, which is lighter than my camera, so balance not quite correct while doing my usual 2-star alignment.  Does not seem to be a problem though, and once aligned, I replace the eyepiece with the camera, and balance is then correct.

thats a good idea! cheers for that